Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

11.03.2010

had I brought the camera today.... my shots may have looked like this

these shots are from last year...these shots are so last year

today after school I tried to switch it up a bit on the bicycle ride home from schoolI can tell that the standard routes are growing staleyesterday we mixed up the back half of our three mile ride homethe boys seemed to enjoy the changeso today I figured we could try something completely different

well... not completely different

to make things fun we set out with the objective of going to the secret rope swing in the woodsah... the journey is the destination

we rode across down on a mixture of sidewalks and streetsalways trying to be considerate of othersalways trying to put ourselves where it makes most sensealways trying to ride where we are most safe

there are some moment where I know that we will have to encounter some carswell... we live in the citythere is lots of cross interaction with the carsit can be anxious

we hold our groundwe do not pull over for cars to passwe stay the course

there is no reason to be submissive

the person in the car has no greater right to the road than a pedestrian or cyclist

usually if a car gets stuck behind us it is for a city block... if it is longer... we may pull over... usually we make a turn and then we are no longer traffic slowing them downthere are other stretches of road where the car needs to accept that they need to change their paceafter all... we are traffic just like they are traffic

in reality... there is not that much time difference between them speeding like THE TRANSPORTER or moving along like they are Driving Miss Daisythe driving styles are not very efficientjust dangerous

people in cars need to let go of some of their self entitlementcar drivers need to realize that slowing and stopping for the person in the crosswalk is not only the right thing to do... but doing the right thing will not alter their trajectory in any substantial waythe same goes for passing the cyclist

in most cases the cyclist is moving... so if the car is moving behind themthey are slowed... not stoppedusually slowed to a legal speedwhen normally they would be speeding

how long does the car usually get slowed down?20-30 seconds?when it is not really that much... since they were still movingjust not moving as fast as they had wanted to go

here is a page that has several rants that would better explain where my thoughts are coming from

the rope swing was a good timethe boys enjoyed the bike ride and the rope swing

my outrage at the passing car drivers brought up questions with my childrenthey understand our right to safetythey do not understand what these cuss words mean

I am protective of my childrenif I feel that your driving puts them at risk... I may over reactbut passing me on at tight twisting road and yelling RIDE SINGLE FILE does not work for meI am riding more to the center of the road so that when you pass...you pass my young children with enough space so that if they were to go off course... slip on the pedals... or get squirmy because of some sand or a pot holethat you will not be so close to them that you crush themall in your effort to get no where that important fast

About Me

if you want to know about me all you need to do is check out my BLOG
it is not the same everyday or everyweek
the focus changes and alters with my moods and with the events of the day and the events of my life